Am currently going through the pain of selling our house through an agent.
So far they’ve managed to prove borderline incompetent at every single basic service.
I’ve checked advertised wages online and they seem to be around 17-20k for jnr sales negotiator to around 26-30k for snr negotiator +commission +car allowance..
Now I enjoy negotiation, I love architecture, have a good eye for detail..I’m starting to think there is no way I could do a worse job than these Muppets. So, if you can’t beat em, join em?..

Any real world experience of the misery of the role and realistic wage expectations?
Genuinely interested to see if this is still a viable career in the 21st century

Have incredible patience with douchebag buyer’s who hit you with silly questions and douchebag vendors that want to advertise at more than what is recommended by you the agent.

Oh and be prepared for lots of needless journeys when viewers don’t turn up.
The list is really endless.

Fun line of work but shocking at same time.

Do you have friends? If so don’t do it….

Nope, practically friend free – already decided I’d call myself a ‘property realtor’ or some such nonsense.
Sounds legit.

Tdog, your line of work?

Managed it for 4 months. Commission of 1% of the agencies 1% hurt – generally it meant less than £10 on every £100k sold. And at the time if I sold one a week I’d be doing well. Naturally commission was paid on completion, if at all. They wanted me to work 7am to 7pm six days per week. Given the low sales, this meant a really poor hourly rate. I left when they got the hump with me for refusing to do more than 35 hours per week, which was in the contract. Pay rates rise dramatically the higher up the food chain you are.

Thx muddyground, always wondered about the comission structure.
Sounds pretty much comission free in reality.

Nope, practically friend free – already decided I’d call myself a ‘property realtor’ or some such nonsense.

The accepted UK business model doesn’t work well for individual “realtors” like in the US, so you’d have to get a job with an established agent.

The industry is in a period of flux right now – look at what’s happening with Countrywide Group to see how unstable it is…

Other than that, it’s just another “sales” job – if you’re good, affable and smile, you’ll make sales. If you let the lack of results turn you into an unshaven, scruffy, stinking alcoholic, not so much.

OP still good money to be made in extras like retainers from developers looking for “fixer-uppers” or land, you need to be the office owner / manager though. Foxtons has imho driven standards to new lows.

EDIT: Countrywide – hope they go bust. Appalling company. Won an ombudsman case with them after they had been proven to have lied and breached the code of practice. Compensation £100 !! At least I managed to get them fired from managing a block of flats sometime later.

As for agents showing people round last house sale I did we did 90% of the viewings inc using “top” agents like Savills. This when we where paying tems of thousands in fees and we pay for the marketing brochure

Nope, practically friend free – already decided I’d call myself a ‘property realtor’ or some such nonsense.
Sounds legit.

Thanks. I now have coffee in my nose.

😆

Set your own up. With Rightmove as a shopfront and yoofs to fly a drone for cash how hard can it be? Just need a decent photographer or equivalent skills. (Never done it myself).

There’s a few other not so nice bits to it to consider as well.

When the bank reposses a house they send in the bailiff and there representation – yep the estate agent, so you’re there with a tiny bailiff and a house full of unhappyness – not cool.

Reposessing or taking on a house that been vacant for months or more, often with real sad life stories attached, that when you walk in literally jump – There is a reason estate agents perks often include chargeable dry cleaning – yum flees or worse, much worse.

Then there is all the “really nice” people that you get to work with, all pleasant and ego free, first time buyers, lawyers, stresses house sellers at all stages of a chain as you chase time and time again to try and keep the thing on track and moving.

Sadly it is not all coffee, smiles and location, location, location – well not in reality anyway.

A role I did 10+ years ago and whilst fun in some ways was bloody hard in others.

James

I used to be an estate agent back in the day. By the time I had finished my 3 months probation I was already in the top 10 in the company for sales every week. Yet the money was so shit I had a job in a bar part time to earn enough money to have a life.

Loads more money in hospitality industry, earn a damn sight more serving people their dinner than I ever could have selling them a house